PARIS — Jil Sander plans to bring some more style to fragrance bars this fall with a scent created to appeal to women who are 30 and older.
Coty Inc.’s Coty Prestige division, which holds the Sander beauty license, will introduce Jil Sander Style, starting in September.
The scent is meant to encapsulate the spirit of the fashion brand founded by German designer Jil Sander in the Seventies. (Sander herself has left the brand twice, most recently in 2004. The Jil Sander clothing collection is now designed by Raf Simons.)
“If you like Jil Sander’s style, if you’re a woman who recognizes herself in Jil Sander fashion, then you will go for this perfume,” claimed Françoise Mariez, senior vice president of marketing for fragrances at Coty Prestige.
With the new scent, Coty intends to keep up with Jil Sander’s new fashion direction under Simons, who became creative director in July 2005. “He’s brought a new energy to the brand,” said Mariez. “It’s important for us to be in sync with fashion. The fragrance is to follow the spirit of our fashion and the new ideas being injected into the brand.”
Style, she said, is designed to have a more upscale image and higher price positioning than the brand’s previous fragrance introductions, such as Sport, Sun and Pure. The new eau de parfum’s lineup, which includes a 50-ml. spray for 50 euros, or $64 at current exchange, is 10 to 25 percent more expensive than those fragrances, depending on bottle size.
Style’s positioning is meant to appeal to women 30 to 45 years old.
“[The fragrance is] design-orientated, feminine, with highly qualitative ingredients,” said Mariez. “[It] is an important step for us to reassert the values of the Jil Sander house, to translate the avant-garde side of the brand.”
Style comes in a rectangular bottle comprising interlocking white blocks separated by a hollowed-out, metallic violet-colored surface. Its outer carton is in black and white. The flacon was created by French designer Patrick Veillet.
To support the launch, the brand came up with a dual-image advertising campaign, which comes as single and double pages. Shot by Belgian photographer Willy Vandeperre, Polish-born model Malgosia Bela is pictured in contrasting poses wearing a Jil Sander dress. In one image, she looks in control and collected, while in the other she seems more sensual.
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“We wanted to show the same woman looking different to show the facets of a woman’s personality,” said Mariez.
Coty is also planning advertorials in magazines highlighting the genesis of the Jil Sander brand to emphasize that it goes beyond fragrance, she added. A sampling drive will include spray vials.
Style’s juice, created by Symrise’s Bernard Ellena, is a woody floral, with top notes of freesia, mango, cardamom and pink pepper. Middle notes comprise violet, magnolia, iris flower and jasmine, while base notes include vanilla, amber and musk.
“We wanted to create a floral for femininity with subtle notes of violet, which is not used very often,” said Mariez.
Mariez declined to comment on sales forecasts. However, she said in Sander’s home market, Coty aims to reach the top women’s scent spot following the launch.
Industry sources estimate Style will generate between 35 million and 40 million euros, or $45 million to $51 million at current exchange, in its first year at retail worldwide.
Style will be introduced in Germany, in the U.K. (exclusively at Harrods), in travel retail channels and in eastern European countries in late September. It will also be available in all Jil Sander doors, including three new stores slated to open this year in Rome, Japan and the U.K.